Am I missing something? There's no info on Craigs website on either this or the new HD30 amp people are talking about.

I believe he has a problem changing his website. I don't know the nature of the problem but it makes it difficult for him to add new items. It could also be that he is busy building our amps. I don't believe he has started the HD30 project. I think that is next after the first ZD's are shipped. The best thing is to email him. He is good at returning emails and is a pleasure to deal with. I believe the ec-ss is a production product at this time.

I believe he has a problem changing his website. I don't know the nature of the problem but it makes it difficult for him to add new items. It could also be that he is busy building our amps. I don't believe he has started the HD30 project. I think that is next after the first ZD's are shipped. The best thing is to email him. He is good at returning emails and is a pleasure to deal with. I believe the ec-ss is a production product at this time.

Before I possibly waste his time unecessarily does anyone have an idea of costs for the ec-ss?

pricing.

i think the first run was 350 and there after are to be 400.

also after listening to this amp for the past three weeks, it just continues to sound better and better. i asked craig about a break in period, he mentioned burning it in for less than 24 hours. either my ears are better recognizing the presentation or this amp is getting more smooth without sacrificing a ounce of detail or depth. im attempting to get with some of the dallas head fi folks to do a side by side with some other solid state amps but things are moving slow on that front. i only have the grado ra-1 and creek obh-11 to compare it against. the ec-ss easily exceeds their efforts.

Chiming in on a couple of things - Confirming what others have said, Craig told me the first 5 EC/SS would be $350, after that $400. And he said he relies on someone else to update his site, and they are very busy at this time. He said he knows it is not helping him get the word out on his new products.

As for the HD30, he's building a prototype, and if that gets a thumbs up, he's hoping for production around December.

About three weeks ago, I stopped by Craig’s workshop to get his opinion on the Furutech Disc Demagnetizer that I had on loan from Paul Lim of Imagine Hi-Fi. But to my surprise Craig had a new amp sitting on his worktable, the Eddie Current Solid State (EC-SS). This is the second evolution of Craig’s solid-state amp that I reviewed a few months back. The immediate visual difference is that this footprint is a quarter of the prototype’s size. And the EC-SS chassis is very similar, if not the same as the EC/DC chassis.

I didn’t get to spend that much time listening to the EC-SS, but my initial impressions were quite positive. Craig had a very basic DVD player and some decent AV Pure cables connected to the EC-SS--headphones: RS-1, HD600, & HD650. I first listened to a track Craig selected and even though I wasn’t familiar with the music I noticed that this solid state had a warm and enticing sound. I don’t like making generalizations, but I tend to feel that solid-state amps can exhibit a thinness sometimes even being harsh and sometimes lack dynamics and warmth. I suppose that is why I prefer a good quality tube amp. Yet Craig has managed to get the EC-SS to retain the tube goodness while not making a solid-state that is fatiguing or has any of the immediately noticeable solid-state shortcoming that I perceive (being a tube guy). Then I listened to some Led, particularly Bron-Y-aur stomp. I wanted to hear how the EC-SS handled some big drums. The EC-SS didn’t disappoint either. The drums were full, dynamic and powerful. The guitar picking sounded pretty real as did the vocals. All in all the EC-SS was very musical and captured a good deal of the emotion and feeling. I could definitely consider purchasing this amp. Then when Craig told me the price, I about fell off the chair. I don’t think I’ve heard a better sounding amp at this price point ever, regardless of tubes or solid-state. I might be even inclined to say double the price if I had more listening time with it.

The AC wall adapter supplies 18V to the circuit. It is rectified with Schotky diodes which feed four low noise buffered shunt regulators. The transistor output buffers are biased with four gallium arsenide current sources.
All signal resistors are carbon comp. Does not invert absolute polarity. Craig said the first five are going for $349.00.

I spent some time with the amp last night and while I am not prepared to give a full eval initial impressions were extremely positive. Very revealing amp with out high end glare and able to power a wide range of cans. I tried Grado HP2s, AKG 340s and AKG 1000s and it handled them all. The 1000s used about all of the available power but the volume was at 3/4s and the bass was full the highs were not wirey, both are conditions that can present themselves with headphone amps and the 1000s. They really shone with the HP2 and this may be the amp under $500 with Grados. I do not have any senns but can probably wrangle a pair to test run.
The sound character is very even keeled no real bumps in the range. I beleive this amp, given it's revealing nature, will not be kind to mediocre sources and headhones. With the HP2s and using the Ayre cd7e it felt like I was in the studio for Miles Kind of Blue. Paul Chambers bass was better articulated than I have heard with most amps. The infamous cough at 9 seconds into the cd was readily heard. This cd can be tough on some systems as both sax players are panned hard right and left and can be a tad blarey. The ECSS presented them fine and got into the details of the tone of each player.
enough babbling I'm off to listen to more tunes through this amp.

I listened to a sub $100 DVD player (no Moth DAC) and the EC-SS sounded great and revealing. If a source really sucks no amp can work magic, but I suppose a lesser amp might muffle your hearing it.

well from my viewpoint some amps so a great job of bandaiding some systems.
So far the ECSS has been nothing short of amazing with the cans I have thrown at it. It loves the HP2s, handles the 340s very well out of a cdp and can do a respectable job with the akg 1ks.
Anyone in the market for a sub 700 amp should check the ECSS out. Also as an added bonus you can roll the opamp it comes with the 797 but for 35 bucks or so you can sub the 627 chip

I can agree with what jp11801 is reporting on the EC/SS. I've been listening to mine a lot since Friday night, and it just sounds wonderful. Mainly I've been listening to it connected to my E-Sound E5 CDP, driving AKG K701's, and it's quite gorgeous. Detailed, fast, but very warm and musical as well. I've also tried it with the HD 650's and a pair of AKG K81DJ's and it can do no wrong with those cans, but it really brings the K701's to life. For once they have very good bass, soundstage seems even wider and the highs just shimmer and sizzle. It's the best I've heard them so far.

In reference to jp11801's comment about mediocre sources, I connected the EC/SS to my stock DAC-AH, and it still sounds damn good. Now I wouldn't call the DAC-AH mediocre, but I definitely prefer the E5. Out of the DAC, the EC/SS sounds just as sweet and musical to my ears, though some of the grain that I thought had burned out of the DAC can now be heard again.

The biggest shock to me so far is that I am really enjoying listening to the EC/SS more than my Eddie Current HD 25! I know that will sound like sacrilege to some, but I think having a decent source and a detailed amp is letting me hear little things the tubes have a tendency to mask. So all of my music has that "new" factor again. But the HD 25 won't be going anywhere. I'm sure once the newness of the EC/SS wears off I will find I like each of my Eddie Current amps for different things.

One other thing to mention about the EC/SS - in long listening sessions (3-4 hours) I have not found it fatiguing at all, at least in the E5 system. I haven't done long listening through the DAC-AH yet so I can't comment.

This is my first "high end" solid state amp, so I can't make any real comparisons to others, but I find it hard to imagine that you could get much better for the price.

I can agree with what jp11801 is reporting on the EC/SS. I've been listening to mine a lot since Friday night, and it just sounds wonderful. Mainly I've been listening to it connected to my E-Sound E5 CDP, driving AKG K701's, and it's quite gorgeous. Detailed, fast, but very warm and musical as well. I've also tried it with the HD 650's and a pair of AKG K81DJ's and it can do no wrong with those cans, but it really brings the K701's to life. For once they have very good bass, soundstage seems even wider and the highs just shimmer and sizzle. It's the best I've heard them so far.

In reference to jp11801's comment about mediocre sources, I connected the EC/SS to my stock DAC-AH, and it still sounds damn good. Now I wouldn't call the DAC-AH mediocre, but I definitely prefer the E5. Out of the DAC, the EC/SS sounds just as sweet and musical to my ears, though some of the grain that I thought had burned out of the DAC can now be heard again.

The biggest shock to me so far is that I am really enjoying listening to the EC/SS more than my Eddie Current HD 25! I know that will sound like sacrilege to some, but I think having a decent source and a detailed amp is letting me hear little things the tubes have a tendency to mask. So all of my music has that "new" factor again. But the HD 25 won't be going anywhere. I'm sure once the newness of the EC/SS wears off I will find I like each of my Eddie Current amps for different things.

One other thing to mention about the EC/SS - in long listening sessions (3-4 hours) I have not found it fatiguing at all, at least in the E5 system. I haven't done long listening through the DAC-AH yet so I can't comment.

This is my first "high end" solid state amp, so I can't make any real comparisons to others, but I find it hard to imagine that you could get much better for the price.

A_Sr.

slacker what took you so long to post!! J/K!!

In reference to my source comments, what I am tring to say is the amp does not gloss over sins of ommision or commision that a source may make like some other amps I have heard.
I am really grooving to this amp with Grados and only wish I owned the HP2s on my head at the moment Marvin Gaye What's Going On CD with my bed room cdp Micromega stage 2 through the ECSS just grooves. The basslines James Jameson lays down are wonderfullly articulated.
I can't wait to hear what this amp can do with some opamp rolling I am going to order the 627s in the next few days. PS if any one has some they would like to sell lmk.
The amp as is is very detailed and warm not as much meat on the bones as my Moth 2a3 but that amp is 7-10 times more expensive. I could easily live with this amp as a main rig.